How To Clip a Dog’s Toenails

How To Clip a Dog’s Toenails

All dog owners must have a feeling of dread overcoming them whenever it’s time to clip their pet’s toenails. Either past experiences with this daunting task might have deterred them, or stories about what has happened with other dog owners and their dogs can scare people to postpone this necessary task indefinitely. However, much like everything else, if you follow the correct steps by the book, you can go through with this scary task without a single hitch! Hence, here is what you need to do to smoothly trim the toenails of your dog:

Step 1: Toenail Clipper

The very first step to make this an efficient process is to get an appropriate toenail clipper. The clipper must be the appropriate size for your dog. A size mismatch can cause a number of problems and can lead to quacking: cutting the blood vessel in the nail. Once you have a clipper, you need to understand just what you have to do. For that, you can always go to Alta Rancho Pet & Bird Hospital for some lessons in how to clip toenails of dogs.

Step 2: Figure Out Where To Clip

The trick to it is trimming and cutting off the nail areas that are dead instead of the area that has the blood vessel, called a quick, flowing in it. If the dog you own happens to have white nails, the quick is very easy to see and point out. On the other hand, it gets harder to point out in a dog with darker nails. In such cases, a small flashlight like the one in your cell phone can highlight the quick even in the dark nails. Just avoid the quick and trim off all the dead areas surrounding it.

Step 3: Keep Your Dog Busy

To keep the dog busy, have someone occupy them while you cut their nails. If you are very scared about cutting the quick, try to cut the areas that come right before the nail starts to curve. This helps you avoid the quick and deal with the trimming easily. Make sure to go slow, only cutting one or two at a time to ensure that your dog does not feel much pain. You need to trim a dog’s nails often for its own good. Well cut nails do not touch the ground and stick above it.

Indeed, trimming your pup’s toenails can be a quick and efficient process that can restore your confidence in your dog-rearing abilities after any kind of depreciation in it. You just need to follow a few steps and use some required equipment for the task. The most important thing you need to have is determination. You are determined to protect your dog’s hygiene and ensure that it’s in top shape. It can be nerve-wracking, but clipping the toenails is ultimately for the dog itself, not for you. For more information on proper grooming techniques contact Alta Rancho Pet & Bird Hospital in Rancho Cucamonga.

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